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It wasn’t Enzo’s fault. She would have found a way into our lives one way or the other.

She was far too clever to have only plan A.

I placed a hand on his shoulder.

“I know you like her, Enzo, but…”

“Fuck, what are you saying?” There was a flicker of shame and sorrow before it disappeared. “Nothing is important to me right now except Ryden and Irene.”

“I just need to see if she has that scar on her shoulder. Sister Mary Elizabeth told me about her tattoo.”

“Wait. She told me a teacher hurt her—no, why sugarcoat it. He raped her when she was just sixteen.” Enzo said, eyes broken. “It must be Robert Miller. He made her into this.”

Robert Miller’s name was enough to make my chest clench.

My heart broke for the girl Patricia once was. Scared and alone. Screaming in fear, and no one had heard her. No one protected her. She must have felt completely alone, desperate to survive, to somehow move past all the evil things life had put on her path.

But that girl? She didn’t exist anymore.

Trish wasn’t Patricia.

“She grew up in pain, like me, and she became like me.” The words tasted like ashes in my mouth. I knew her desperation. I was familiar with the darkness that had shaped her.

Robert Miller brought her demons to life, just as my father had brought me mine. Patricia and I were too similar. We were both reborn in the pain inflicted upon us, shaped by wounds we never asked for.

“No, not like you.” Enzo’s voice was soft. “She became worse, while you became exactly what this world needed.”

He was wrong. It could have gone either way. I could have easily become Trish too.

But you didn’t.

“We need to find them, Enzo. We need to find them before Trish realizes we know more than we should.”

“We will,” Enzo said. “Just go back to my place and wait with Trish. I’ll be there in a few minutes,” he said, jaw clenched.

“What?”

“Trust me, Yara.”

I went straight to Enzo’s house, thinking about everything that had transpired, thinking about how to unravel this mess. When I walked in, I saw Trish coming out of her room. She gave me a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

She was good at this. Mimicking emotions, slipping the masks on and off.

Oh, Trish. If you could have just come to me…

I would have done anything to help her. I would have protected her with everything. But instead, she killed my best friend. If I didn’t stop her now, she would kill my sister and the love of my life.

“Trish? Are you leaving?” I asked, staring at the small bag she was carrying.

She was running. No fucking way I was going to let her go.

“To my place. I’m sorry. I don’t want to be a burden. Not anymore. You two already have too much on your plates,” she said, wiping the sweat from her forehead.

“You’re not a burden,” I said, wondering where the hell Enzo was, and what exactly his plan was.

“I don’t want to interfere. I’ll only be a distraction.” Her voice was careful. Too careful. Her smile… paper-thin. She looked genuinely apologetic. Like she meant every word. Like she was just as worried about Ryden and Irene’s safety as I was.

Bitch. Fucking bitch.